I grew up in a home filled with all kinds of popular music. My family favored Broadway show tunes, swing bands, opera, and anything written by Cole Porter or sung by Ray Noble.
This musical arena would have to suffice until 1953, when I discovered among my mother’s old and brittle 78s a well-worn campy folk ditty that appealed to my raw and organic nature at the time: Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.
By the time Elvis came along the following year, I found my groove, warped as it would become.
Much to my mother’s chagrin, I started collecting rock ’n’ roll and rhythm and blues records. The household hi-fi was soon corrupted, as was the entire household. I remember introducing Little Richard’s Tutti-Frutti to my mom, whereupon she found it necessary to check on the validity of my birth certificate.
I remained oblivious to all this, of course, unaware that I was kind of like Cuba sitting off the United States. Despite threats of parental retaliation, I continued to shake, rattle, and roll. There was no known antidote. For I had discovered, like many other juveniles my age, THE BIG BEAT: that primordial force of the boogie-woogie that absolutely terrified mothers and fathers across the land.
It’s no wonder that when I was shipped off to what might as well have been a military school, proctors there quickly confiscated my 45rpm record player, only to discover the next night that Jerry Lee Lewis was again blaring from my room. I simply bought a record player from a classmate down the hall.
It was not long thereafter that I figured out a way to capitalize on my obsession. I started spinning platters at college fraternity parties and high school hops, which gave me enough spare change to rummage through thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales in search of that rare rock ’n’ roll record.
Over the years, as a musician and a disc-jockey among other things, I amassed quite an eclectic collection and prided myself on winning rock ’n’ roll trivia contests. I could furnish the answers to “What was Brenda Lee’s real name?” and “Name the B-sides to all the Beatles’ singles” and “Who provided the hand claps in Little Eva’s hit song The Locomotion?”
The problem was, as I often learned on street corners waiting to impress passersby, no one really cared. Except my wife Sara, who, thinking of the future, just recently suggested that I stop all the spinning and sell my entire collection. Which I find difficult to contemplate, even though you can pretty much experience anything these days through the Internet.
But I’d rather have the original 45. And since my talk-show friend Dave Congalton considers me somewhat of a pop music historian (because I know things like it was Dick Clark who supplied the hand claps to Locomotion), he has often invited me on his show to share the weird, the wild, and the wonderful of Top Forty.
Just a few days after producer Phil Spector died last January, we discussed his contribution to the music industry. We followed that up with a salute to Carol King for giving us—50 years ago—her landmark album Tapestry. Since then we’ve showcased the Motown Sound, offered a tribute to folksinger Jimmy Rogers, given a nod to country-pop star Brenda Lee (real name Brenda Mae Tarpley, for your information), explored why the FBI investigated rock ’n’ roll’s most infamous song, visited the tribal-love-rock musical Hair!, examined why the Beatles top the charts (still), and celebrate the life of Lloyd Price.
Phil Spector Retrospective (aired live January 19, 2021) Carol King’s Tapestry: 50 Years (aired live February 8, 2021) Motown Retrospective 1: Honoring Mary Wilson (aired live February 24, 2021) Motown Retrospective 2 (aired live March 31, 2021) Jimmy Rodgers (aired live April 9, 2021) Brenda Lee (aired live April 16, 2021) Louie Louie (aired live April 23, 2021) Hair! (aired live April 30, 2021) The Beatles (aired live May 7, 2021) Lloyd Price (aired live May 14, 2021)
As we carry on with “King’s Pop Musical Muse,” expect more of the same. The very least I can do is share the party lights.
Catch “King’s Pop Musical Muse” live on Fridays at 3:45pm on The Dave Congalton Show or listen to the podcast on KVEC 920AM / 96.5 FM.